FILNER OPENS OFFICE IN TIJUANA, TALKS OLYMPICS

TIJUANA 
San Diego Mayor Bob Filner said Friday that he wants the city to join forces with Tijuana to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to the region, reviving earlier proposals to promote the two cities as a joint site for the games.

“I’m very serious,” Filner said as he inaugurated his administration’s new office in Tijuana’s Rio Zone. At his side was Tijuana Mayor Carlos Bustamante and a broad range of members of the binational community, including business leaders, government officials and representatives of a spectrum of nonprofit groups.

San Diego was among the 35 U.S. cities that received a letter this week about bids for hosting the summer 2024 games. “When I looked at it, I said, ‘We have to do this together” with Tijuana, Filner said.

There have been previous proposals for such a partnership, including one spearheaded by real estate developer Malin Burnham for the 2016 Summer Olympics. But they “didn’t have the heft of the city,” Filner said, adding that athletic facilities such as the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista and Tijuana’s state-run High Performance Center would help draw interest to the region.

Filner’s pitch was greeted with applause from the audience, which had squeezed into a conference room at the Tijuana Economic Development Corp., or DEITAC, a nonprofit group that has offered free space for San Diego inside its suite at the environmentally certified building Via Corporativo.

“Looking at the Olympics seriously will show us the potential of the binational region,” said Kenn Morris, president of Crossborder Group, a marketing and research firm.

Filner said establishing a presence for the city of San Diego in Tijuana is an important step toward creating a binational region. The relationship will be formalized through a memorandum of understanding between the two administrations and subject to review by the U.S. State Department and Mexico’s Foreign Ministry.

Filner pledged to open an office in Tijuana soon after his election in November. He has appointed a full-time staff member, Mario Lopez, to focus on San Diego’s ties with its southern neighbor.

The office, which consists of a cubicle with a phone and a computer, will be made available at no cost for as long as San Diego wants it, said DEITAC president David Mayagoitia. San Diego officials would also have access to the Tijuana EDC conference rooms, he added.

The city of Tijuana has had a presence in San Diego since 2005, with two staff members based at San Diego Association of Governments, which has offered free space. The space consists of two offices and three computers.